New BARA chair pledges to champion automation

BARA (the British Automation and Robot Association) has named Fanuc UK’s Oliver Selby as its new chair, as he takes over from George Thompson with support in his role from vice-chair Rosie Davies of Reeco Automation.

Peter Williamson, chief executive of Automate UK, says: “Oliver is an influential voice within the industry. His passion for all things manufacturing, automation adoption and future skills, will be a key factor in developing BARA alongside the existing committee, and with the full support of Automate UK.”

Selby, who is head of sales at Fanuc UK, assumed the new role at the beginning of October this year. As chair, he plans to drive the association’s activities forward, he says, supporting BARA’s aim to increase automation uptake while placing members’ needs firmly front and centre.

One of his key pledges is to ensure the association delivers real value to its members.

“I am excited to bring my knowledge, influence and passion for automation to a wider audience, and will be fully focused on delivering value to all facets of the BARA membership and other stakeholders – from OEM robot manufacturers and system integrators to companies in the supply chain, academic institutions and High Value Manufacturing

Catapults,” he says.

As Selby points out, despite the UK’s status as a leading manufacturing nation, it is still lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to automation adoption. “It is essential that we highlight how automation can alleviate manufacturers’ key challenges,” he adds. W automate-uk.com/ our-associations/bara/